a second chance
by black rose kitty
Summary: Tsuki and Yoru were once at the top of the most powerful army in the demon world, now they are merely petty thieves. That all changes when they are captured by Yusuke and his team. What will become of th girls and what secrets do they hold RR plz
1. first glance

_Chapter One_

"Tsuki hurry up or their ganna catch you!" Yoru shouted over her shoulder as she and Tsuki ran along the winding trail of the Ryunoke forest.

"You try getting shot in the leg by a spirit bullet and see how fast you run!" Tsuki shouted back trying to ignore the savior pain shooting through her leg.

Ever since three days ago, when their latest theft had gone soar, Tsuki and Yoru had been on the run from the spirit detectives who had been sent to capture them. The first day was spent mostly without fear. They had gloated over their prize; a spell book used by some of the most powerful mages in the Seiryu domain, and easily avoided the lower monkey brain spirit detectives. But by the second day things began to heat up. That was when they first laid eyes on the infamous spirit detective Yusuke Urameshi and his team. This story begins on that fateful morning.

It was dawn; the bright golden sun had just started to creep over the horizon sending its warm light through the dense branches of the Ryunoke forest. Tsuki and Yoru lay soundly on the limbs of the tree that had become their bed the night before. Yoru sleep with her back against the tree and her head slumped forwards.

She was a short girl standing only 5' 1" tall, with shoulder length blond hair that always fell in front of her face hiding her rosy cheeks and deep bluish green eyes. She wore baggy fighter style pants that, at one point, were red but were now brown from extended wear and neglect. Her shirt was once a tunic like the ones the ninjas of the royal order would wear but now was nothing more then a piece of cloth tied around her chest. Her one prized position was her katana and it normally never left her side. It was kept in a black scabbard and on its metal hilt was a flaming red phoenix representing that she was a master swords man. At the moment it was being cradled in her arms as she slept.

A branch or two above her slept Tsuki. She lay on the branch with her arm under her head as a pillow and the other wrapped around a leather bound spell book they had recently stolen. She was reasonably tall at 5' 9" with long, free flowing reddish brown hair that reaches well past her shoulder blades. Her skin was tanned by her constant being in the sun, and her eyes were light hazel brown but constantly changed colors with her mood. Her outfit was the same as Yoru's had been except that her pants were green and her shirt had some dangling pieces of material on her left shoulder.

The sun continued its steady rise over the hill, its warm light drying the dew from the girl's skin and clothes. Eventually the sun found its way to Tsuki's eyes. She gave a moan of annoyance as it began to burn her skin. After a minute or so she sleepily opened them and gave a tired glance at her surroundings. After another moment she sat up and, raising her hands over her head, gave a loud yawn before allowing her weight to carry her backwards so that she hung upside down by her knees.

As she hung there small droplets of water fell from the branches above her. Several of these drops found their way into her large cat like ears causing the hair on the end of her tail to bristle in annoyance. She shook her head in an attempt to dislodge the annoying little drops.

"Yoru, it's time to get up." Tsuki said grinning down sleepily at her friend "Yoru!"

Yoru gave a small groan of annoyance, waved the finger in Tsuki's general direction, and shifted to the left slightly but continued sleeping. Tsuki gave an annoyed sigh as she reached for a red cloth sack attached to her pants. From this sack she extracted a small green seed that was no bigger then a nail head. With great care she took aim and dropped it squarely into Yoru's lap. Almost instantly the seed began to grow. Numerous little vines began to wind their way around Yoru. They looked like little green snakes and soon had completely cocooned her so that only her head was visible. Separate from the squirming mass was a single vine with a large purple bulb on its end. Slowly it began to open into what seemed like beautiful flower. But as the last petals fell away from the center several very sharp jagged teeth made their presence known. It wriggled its way close to where Yoru was sleeping until it was less then an inch from her face, before it started to sniff at her.

"What's that smell? It smells like burnt eggs." Yoru groaned as she began to open her eyes.

As her eyes hit about half-mast she began to see the fuzzy outline of the flower. As the grogginess subsided she fully saw the plant creature in front of her as well as its sharp teeth.

"Ahhhhhhhhhh!" Yoru's scream echoed throughout the whole forest sending flocks of sleeping birds skyward in a flight of fear. "Its ganna eat me!"

Tsuki let out a loud giggle as she watched her friend struggle to escape from the wriggling mass that cocooned her. She let her knees go from the branch and summer salted once in the air before landing cat like on the branch that Yoru was on.

"Ya know if you'd just wake up the first time I called you we wouldn't have to go through this." Tsuki implied walking up behind her flower creature.

"Ok! Ok! I'll get up from now on! Just call it of, please!" Yoru begged as the plant began to inch closer to her.

With a quick jab at its stem by Tsuki both the flower and the vines withered and died. Yoru brushed away the dead plants as she stood up. She looked at Tsuki for a moment before unsheathing her sword and charged forward.

She was almost godly fast as she moved along the branch. Tsuki barely had enough time to jump and flip over her head. She landed in a kneeling position behind Yoru who remained with her back to her. They were both still for a moment before Yoru let out a small giggle.

"I'm ganna die of a heart attack one of these mornings if you don't stop that." Yoru said as she turned around and sheathed her blade.

"And I'm ganna die of blood loss if you don't start missing." Tsuki replied standing up and watching the blood leak though her pants and felt the wound slowly start to heal.

They both began to laugh and complement each other on evasion and striking skills. To anyone else it would have seemed like the girls were crazy. But to them it was just an average good morning.

"So what are we ganna steal, or who are we ganna piss off today?" Yoru asked stretching her arms over her head.

"Well let's see, there are spirit detectives all over the forest looking for us. Why don't we use some of these spells on them?"

"Good idea. What spells are we ganna use?"

"Let's talk as we move."

Both girls began leaping expertly from tree branch to tree branch as they discussed ideas as to what kind of spells they would use. Eventually it was decided that they would only elemental spell and save the rest for another time.

All day long they leapt from the branches of the tree searching for a group of spirit detectives to piss off. When they did come upon an unsuspecting group they each used a different spell and watching in amusement as their victims looked around for the cause of the magic. As evening fell the girls began searching for a safe tree to stay in for the night. Every now and again they would come across a group of people on whom they would use their magic but as the sun and the fun began to fade it happened less often.

When the sun nearly set both Tsuki and Yoru sat on a branch for a little rest before continuing their search for a safe place to stay for the night. As they sat there scanning through the pages of the spell book they began to hear voices coming their way. They crouched down lower in the in the thick leaves of the branches before scanning for the cause of the voices. It didn't take long till they saw a group of people emerge from the brush.

The group stopped under the tree that the girls were hiding in. It consisted of five people all of whom were boys. The girls listened as they began to talk amongst themselves.

"God damn, we've been searching for a whole day now and still haven't found them. I'm telling ya I'm really starting to hate these nature hikes." Grumbled a boy with greasy black hair.

"You didn't think we would find them the first day did you?" Remarked another boy with slightly blue spiky hair, as he spoke he pulled out a small silver gun and quickly checked the rounds in it.

"Yeah Urameshi! Didn't you hear Koenma when he said that these demons would be hard to catch?" Another boy with bright orange hair said as he whipped the sweat from his face.

"Shut up Kuwabara! Don't forget if I hadn't sweet talked your sister you'd still be at home doing homework." The boy named Urameshi near yelled at his companion.

"Is that so well I just happened to hear someone …"

"Guess they're after us too." Yoru said with a sigh as she watched the boys continue their argument. "Oh well, their just weak humans they won't find us."

"They're not humans. At least not all of them are." Tsuki replied staring down at the group.

"Yes, they are."

"Use your senses Yoru! The ugly orange haired one is the only human. The others are demons." She fell silent for a moment and stared at Urameshi for some reason she felt that they should fear him above all others but she wasn't sure why. "I think we should leave. Something is bugging me about that Urameshi boy and I don't want to stick around to figure out what."

"No way! This is to good a chance for fun to miss."

Yoru began flipping through the pages of the book searching for a spell that would best suit her need for mischief. As she scanned Tsuki watched over her shoulder and noticed a page that may be worth looking at later so, without fully explaining why, she grabbed a leaf from the branch above her and inserted it between the pages she wanted to see. After another minute of scanning Yoru came upon an ice spell that seemed to provide what she was looking for. She began to chant the words to the spell and within moments had caused the boys' feet to freeze to the ground.

"Hey, what the hell?" yelled the boy with blue spiky hair as he fell flat on his face.

"Hiei you punk, what's the big idea!" Urameshi yelled over his shoulder.

It was only then that the girls really noticed the two figures standing at the back of the group. One was a small boy, about Yoru's height, with bluish black hair that stuck up in peaks all over his head; it also had a white star at its front. He was dressed in a black cape with a white strip of cloth on his forehead and appeared to be carrying a sword.

The other was a tall, slender, red head; he had a reasonably calm face despite having is feet stuck to the ground. He wore a normal looking fighter style outfit that made him appear very feminine and as he glanced up into the tree the girls caught a glimpse of a pair of beautiful deep green eyes.

"If I was going to cause you any hell, detective, I would choose a far more effective way." Growled the spiky haired boy.

Yoru gave a mischievous grin as she watched the chaos her prank had caused. She was temped to laugh but remembered what Tsuki had said about them being demons and settled with an evil snicker. She only stopped her snicker fit when she heard Tsuki give a small gasp next to her. She looked up to see that her friends eyes had become the size of the end of an ogres club, and she had a look of terror on her face that Yoru had only seen their once before.

"Tsuki, what is it?"

"I think I figured out why that Urameshi boy is so unsettling. He's one of the Mazaku!"

Yoru looked closer at the greasy haired boy struggling beneath her. He didn't look like anything special just an ordinary monkey brain, spirit world lackey. But as she continued to stair she began to feel an energy force so great that it nearly knocked her off her perch. She sat back and looked up to see Tsuki smiling. She knew that her friend was prone to drastic mood swings but this was defiantly not something to go smiling about.

"Why are you smiling? Tsuki this is very bad we are aggravating one of the most powerful demons to ever walk in this world! Do you hear me Tsuki he could kill us with one glance!"

Yoru was near her breaking point. They had always messed with powerful demons but they also always knew how to get out of a bad situation. But if this descendent of the Mazaku were to find them there would be no escaping him.

"Stop panicking Yoru." Said Tsuki in a surprisingly calm voice "Do you feel the energy that he's letting off?"

"Of course! What do you think I'm freaking out about?"

Tsuki quietly knelt down and removed the book of spells from her friend's killer grip. She opened it and flipped to the page where she had stuck the leaf and read aloud, "Spirit energy removal spell." She looked down to see that Yoru was now mirroring the look that Tsuki herself had had not long before. She was indeed aware that her plan was dangerous and, yes, even foolish but she knew that if they could pull it off the pay off would be more then they could ever hope for.

Yoru could barely contain her voice as she yelled in a whisper "Tsuki, your crazy! You don't actually think that we could pull that off …do you?"

"Yoru consider the benifits." Tsuki said in a calm, convincing voice as she knelt down by Yoru's ear. "Now, we have been outlaws for the best part of two centuries, if we pull this off not only will we be able to sleep in a bed again but we can get a decent meal in our stomachs. And not just that, we can get back into clothes demons of our rank should be wearing and you can finally get a new sword."

The last remark caused Yoru to tighten her grip on the hilt of her sword. She knew that it was old, rusting, chipped and dull but she had had it ever since she'd left home and had no intention of giving it up. Still, she considered the other facts. It was true that they hadn't slept in a bed since they had been exiled and that they had been living off of what they could find or steal since then as well and the idea of being back in her old clothes was to tempting to fight off. She looked at Tsuki with a serious glare in her eyes and said, "If we die I swear I will kill you again before Koenma can place you."

Tsuki gave a small grin of humor at Yoru's comment, it wasn't everyday that she was willing to go along with one of Tsuki's crazy ideas.

"Deal!" Tsuki said with a small twitch of excitement "Okay the first thing we need to do is wait for a full moon, which is tonight so wait over. Next is to cast this spell on to ourselves so that the spirit energy has a place to go once captured."

"How are we going to get the energy into us to begin with?"

"We have to kiss them and hold it for as long as we feel energy going through us."

As Tsuki said this she began to doubt whether or not she'd be able to go through with this. She hadn't kissed anyone for two centuries. Not since that day…

"Tsuki, are you sure you want to do this now? I mean, you still haven't gotten over…"

"Yes Yoru I'm sure. How else are we going to survive?"

With that she snapped the book shut and began out the details of what would be their most difficult and later memorable theft ever.


	2. the chase is on

Chapter Two

The sun gave way to the moon mere hours after the girls had formed their plan. Once the group of boys managed to get their feet out of the ice the girls followed them until they decided to set up their camp for the night. The location they chose couldn't have been more suiting to the girls needs. It was a clearing completely surrounded by trees with a vast view of the stars and, more importantly, the moon above. They had set up a fire in the center of the ring of trees as well as numerous traps around in the shadows and trees. Once they had finally fallen asleep, the girls were given the opening they needed to begin their theft.

"You ready Yoru?" Tsuki asked as she looked down to check that all their victims were still asleep.

"I was born ready Tsuki." Yoru replied as she finished chanting the words to the spell they had just cast upon themselves.

Cautiously they climbed down from the tree and walk along the shadows, like a couple of wild cats stalking their prey. They both looked at each other as they crawled out from the shadows and silently crept up on their first victim. Tsuki heard Yoru give a groan and looked over to see that she had landed next to the ugly orange haired one with the big mouth.

She stared at him and gave another groan of disgust as he gave a loud snore and began grumbling about how strong he was. Without even a second glance she turned around and, kicking a small amount of dirt at his face, moved to the boy lying next to him. It was clear that if anyone was going to keep his or her energy tonight it would be that idiot.

Tsuki gave a small smile as she watched Yoru examine the boy with the greasy black hair she had end up by this time before looking down at the one she had ended up by herself. As fate would have it she ended up next to the slender red head one. She looked closely at him, taking in the smooth gentleness his energy gave off. It was almost like being back with him, back when all the dangers in all the worlds couldn't have intimidated her. Her eyes went soft for a moment as she remembered how happy those days had been. She reached down, gently closed her hand around his and quietly thought to her, _I do this for y_ou_, my love, because you asked me to live._ Without another thought she allowed her weight to carry her forward until her lips were just above his. But before they touched she felt a small tap on the back of her head.

"You're awake aren't you?" She said grinning down at the boy below her.

"You didn't think it would be that easy did you?" He replied brushing his lips against hers as he spoke.

The next thing she felt was the intense squeeze of something being wrapped around her abdomen. She heard Yoru give a loud yelp not three feet away and turned to see her hanging upside down suspended by a strong green vine. She looked back to see that the group around the fire that had been "asleep" begin to stir. Apparently they had triggered one of the traps that had been laid by the boys when they descended from the tree and were now at their mercy. She looked back down at the red head and was surprised to see that his face carried a look of sadness rather then happy victory. He gave her a momentary smile as she was lifted from the ground and brought over to hang next to Yoru.

"Well, looks like the traps worked after all." Groaned the boy with blue-black spiky hair as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"Of course they did Hinote would you doubt fox boys abilities? Wake up Kuwabara!" said Urameshi as he bent down to yelling his friends ear.

Yoru shot Tsuki a fleeting glance and lipped the words_ Think of something or we're screwed! _Tsuki thought quickly of the options they had. There were too many of them to fight, and they were probably twice as powerful as either of them. The only other option would be to cut the vines, run like hell and hope that their pursuers were slow. She looked towards Yoru and mouthed, _I have a plan. Do you have your dagger still?_ Yoru stuck out her right leg slightly and wiggled it.

Before the girls had been exiled they were given two daggers with elemental qualities. Tsuki's possessed the quality of lightning and Yoru's, fire. These daggers were beyond value to them in their power but the side effect was that if you use the power you used some of your life energy. This made it so that neither one of the girls had ever used the weapons for anything other then cutting. Tsuki nodded but was forced to turn away before she could explain her plan because the short demon with the white star in his hair had walked over and was now eyeing them curiously. His eyes narrowed as he spotted the katana at Yoru's side. He reached for it causing Yoru to wiggle madly so as to keep it out of reach but after a moment he grabbed it from her and held it out in front of him.

"Hey! Get your Fucking hands off my sword you midget of a demon!" Yoru screamed before she could stop herself.

Everyone stopped and stared at the little demons reaction. There was total silence as if everyone was waiting for a volcano to erupt. In one swift motion the little demon shot him-self forward and threw several extremely strong punches at Yoru who was unable to protect herself. When the little demons fists stopped flying everyone was surprised to see Yoru completely unharmed.

"What the hell are you girl!" shrieked Kuwabara when he didn't see a scratch on her.

"Calm down Kuwabara. She's not invulnerable, merely well protected." Chimed in the red head as he saw blood fall to the ground under Tsuki's foot. "Apparently her friend here extended her leg so as to protect her from Hiei's blows."

"You don't miss a thing do you fox boy?" Hinote said as he pulled out his gun and pointed it at the girls.

Both girls twitched slightly when they saw the gun. Tsuki instinctively raised her legs to her chest so it was easier to reach her dagger when she sensed him ready to fire. Yoru, on the other hand, was only able to turn her head slightly thanks to her awkward position. They both realized that they would have only one shot at escape.

"Now now Hin, we don't need to use that unless they refuse to cooperate." Said

Urameshi as he pulled out a small round object that looked like a compact for makeup.

"You're not calling Botan now are you?" Kuwabara whined

"Afraid so, we should try to get out of here before some rouge demon comes along looking for a challenge."

The whole group watched Urameshi as he opened the compact and a girl with sky blue hair and purple eyes appeared through the static. Next to her stood three other girls all looking slightly confused as they stared at Urameshi. One was a short looking girl with sea green hair and deep red eyes the same color as the demons Hiei and Hinote's were. The one just above her had shoulder length brown hair and big brown eyes; she also appeared to have a blue furry animal on top of her head. The last one was older then the rest by about ten years, had long free flowing brown hair and a cigarette between her lips.

"Hey girl! What ya up to?" Urameshi said with a goofy grin

"Yusuke! Thank heaven; we've been so worried about you." Shrieked the girl with short brown hair.

"Awww come on Kieko show some faith in me."

"Yusuke is Kazuma with you?" said the girl with the cigarette "Because if he is, tell him that he's in big trouble when he gets home."

"Did ya hear that Kuwabara? Your sister says you're in big trouble." Yusuke said grinning as Kuwabara sunk to the ground.

"What about Hinote and Hiei? Are they okay?" piped in the girl with sea green hair.

"Yeah your brothers are fine Yukina, don't worry. Anyways Botan we caught the demons."

"That's great Yusuke, excellent job." Replied the girl with the sky blue hair in a slightly British accent "I'll see how soon we can open a portal back home for you. Until then bye bye." And with that all four girls disappeared from the compact.

Tsuki shot Yoru a glance that told her to keep quiet and follow her lead.

"So who were those? Your girlfriends?" she said in a soft sweet voice

"Yeah a few of them are the others are sisters." Said Yusuke with a raised eyebrow as he turned back to the girls.

"Who was what?" Yoru asked catching on to the game.

"Why does it matter?"

"Because the one that had the cancer stick looked like a real whore," Tsuki replied with a small laugh "I'll beat she couldn't even hold her own in a fight against a toddler."

Tsuki barley knew what hit her as Kuwabara came flying at her with his hands balled into fists. He managed to get in a few blows before the rest of the group managed to pull him off.

"Calm down Kuwabara!" The red head said as he pushed Kuwabara by the shoulder. "She's only trying to get under your skin."

"Well it worked and now she's ganna pay!" Kuwabara retorted as he tried to shack Hinote from his arm.

The girls realized that this was the opening they needed to make their escape. Tsuki quickly dug her dagger out of her pant leg and, summoning a fair amount of spirit energy, sent a burst of lightening at the vine that held Yoru who managed to flip over in the air, land on her feet and grab her sword from where the demon Hiei had dropped it. She made a run for Tsuki's vine, sliced through it and continued running for the darkness of the forest. Tsuki hit the ground running and followed her, though her whole body screamed for her to stop after using the dagger.

The boys didn't even know what happened until they saw Tsuki's tail disappear into the brush. Once the reality hit them that their bounty was escaping they kicked into high gear and pursued them. Hiei pulled out his sword and began leaping through the trees while everyone else ran bellow him with their numerous weapons. Kuwabara had his spirit sword out and was waving it around wildly trying to slice through the plant creatures Tsuki had left in her wake. The red head had out a whip made of thorns that he was brandishing at the girls from about a hundred feet away. Hinote had his gun out and was shooting bullets in just about every direction, one of which managed to hit Tsuki in the back of the leg and exit through the front. Lastly was Yusuke and he seemed to have to deadliest weapon out of the group, his finger, which emitted a small bluish sphere that carried with it an immense energy. He fired off about three of these spheres before he was forced to reduce to fists.

The girls ran deeper and deeper into the forest with the boys still in hot pursuit, fortunately for the girls none of them had managed to get a clean shot at them save for the demon Hinote. But that quickly changed as the girls entered an opening in the trees were the boys had more room to spread out and attack. They surrounded the girls on both sides and opened fire with their weapons. Yoru managed to catch the red heads whip in her shoulder and narrowly avoided Hiei's sword as it came for her head as well as Yusuke's foot. Tsuki also avoided Kuwabara's sword to her chest but wasn't so lucky when it came to Hinote's bullet which dug its way deep into the same spot Kuwabara had been aiming for. They both continued running till they came to another narrow path through the forest.

The chase continued for hours in the same fashion, the spirit detectives would pursue the girls until they came to an opening in the trees where they would mount an attack and the girls would run as fast as they could trying to avoid getting hit. They soon found that if they kept up this rate that they would very soon be at the mercy of the spirit detectives. They had to find a place to hide. As luck would have it the chase led them to an area that they were very familiar with. They both hopped to the right straight into a bamboo grove and soon heard their pursuers footsteps slowly fade away as they expertly navigated their way to a place were they knew they'd be safe. They quickly found a large boulder at the center of the grove that stood ten times taller then either of them and was near impossible to climb, but at its base, nearly invisible, was a small hole that led to an underground caver. Without a second glance behind them both girls dove into the hole and lay huddled at the entrance. They were quiet for a moment, scarcely daring to breath, before they heard the sound of four sets of feet fly past them. Another few moments ticked by in which the girls listened for any sign of the detectives. When they heard nothing they thought it safe to poke their heads out of the hole and, very cautiously crawl out.

"Boy that was close." Yoru said as she whipped the blood and sweat from her face and shoulder.

"That was way to close. If I ever come up with something like that again, slap me." Tsuki replied as she tore a piece of cloth from her shirt to tie around her leg.

"Will do! You don't think I'm ganna let you get me into the same mess twice do you?"

Tsuki gave a small giggle in response to her friend's remark. Though they both managed to smile slightly they still had all their senses on edge in case they caught any sign of their pursuers return. They heard nothing for several minutes and as the adrenalin died away their senses began to dull.

"So what's the plan now?" Yoru asked as she moved to place her hands behind her head but twitched when she remember the injury she'd received.

Tsuki didn't answer immediately. She thought that she had heard something move in the shadows a few feet away and was straining her ears to catch it again.

"Come on Su, those spirit monkeys are probable-"

"Yoru look out!"

Tsuki ran forward and inadvertently shoved Yoru to the side as a giant blue sphere of light came flying at them through the grove. She let out a blood-chilling scream as the sphere hit her in the side, and only stopped after the light had dissipated and she fell to the ground unconscious. Yoru could only watch in horror as her friend's, almost lifeless, body fell to the ground in front of her with a sickening thunk.

"Oh my god, Tsuki!" she screamed and ran forward to see if there was any thing she could do. But before she had taken three steps forward she felt the chilling steel of a sword against her chest. She looked up to see the demon Hiei above her with the blade of his sword pointed at her throat and a menacing look in his eyes.

"If you value your life you won't move." He said with a small twitch of his hand so as to indicate the sword at her neck.

She gave him a cold stare but didn't move. When she glanced back at Tsuki she saw her surrounded by the rest of the boys. The one called Hinote had his gun pointed to her head as if waiting for her to jump up and attack him. The red head one was down on his knees gently turning her over to check for a pulse. Kuwabara and Yusuke both hovered close by waiting to hear weather or not they had accidentally killed their bounty.

"She's alive, but only just." The red head remarked as he found a weak pulse.

"Well, that's good. Hiei make sure you have a tight hold on her we don't need to go on another nature run." Yusuke said letting out a sigh of what might be called relief.


	3. momentary reunion

Chapter Three

It didn't take long for Botan to locate them and open a portal to the spirit world. Yoru was forced into handcuffs by the demon Hiei and Tsuki was being cared by the red head demon. Yusuke, Kuwabara and Hinote lead the way through the winding paths until they came to an enormous pair of doors. Yoru was amazed by the sheer height of them and wondered what kind of monsters lurked inside. As they stopped in front of the doors they heard the voice of the bubbly blue haired girl they had seen in the compact come on over the speaker that Urameshi was speaking into. Yoru stole a glance at Tsuki to see numerous bruises forming along her arms and stomach, she was still unconscious and Yoru mildly wondered weather or not they would live to see another day. The doors opened and they filed into long dark hall until they came to another set of doors with two blue ogres on the sides.

"Hey, Yusuke! How ya been?" Asked one of the ogres with a cheerful smile.

"Good as I can be. Is Koenma in?" Yusuke replied

"Yeah he's in, go right on through."

The group passed through the second set of doors into a large room with many different colored ogres running around with stacks of paper in their hands. They maneuvered their way through here until they reached yet another set of doors. When they entered they saw a mid sized room with a desk at one end and a monitor at the other. Sitting at the desk was a toddler with a large blue hat that had the word Jr. written on it.

"Ah Yusuke, nice to see you've returned, and with the prize I see." The toddler said looking up from his stack of papers.

"That's right Koenma and I believe we deserve a nice long break after this." Hinote said with a sigh of exhaustion.

"You have got to be kidding me! This little runt is the ruler of the spirit world! Yoru said before she could control herself.

"I'm assuming that this is one of the demons. Where's the other?"

"She's here but she's unconscious." The red head said walking forward slightly to show Koenma.

"Holy mother, Yusuke what happened to her?"

"I was forced to use force." Yusuke replied with an embarrassed grin.

"I simply don't have time for this, take her to sick bay and see what you can do for her wounds. As for the other, Hiei can take her to the holding rooms."

"Yes, Koenma." The red head replied as he left the room with Hiei

They walked again past all the crazy ogres and down another, quieter, hall. They split ways about half way down it, Hiei leading Yoru to the right and the red head carrying Tsuki to the left. Yoru silently followed him until they came to a door with a strange symbol on it. He led her through it, and inside she saw a bed, a table and two shackles attached to the wall. Hiei quickly drew his sword, pointed it to her throat and guided her to the wall with the shackles. When she was within three feet of them she felt them clamp onto her ankles. Hiei lowered his sword when he was sure that she couldn't get out of them and said, "If you try to take those off they will constrict around your ankles until your feet fall off." With that he left Yoru alone with her thoughts.

Meanwhile Tsuki was taken into a different room by the red head. He laid her on a metal table and began to wash the blood, dirt, and sweat from her skin and cuts. About half way through this she woke from her sleep. But even though she was finally awake she had no strength to fight him off. She gave him a quick glance as he lifted her shirt slightly to clean a deep cut to her ribs.

"Ah, you're awake. That's good." He said as he tore a length of bandage from its roll.

"Why are you healing me? I thought Enma wanted us dead." Tsuki said with the little energy she had.

"Now what gave you that idea?" he said with a slight frown.

"Why else would he send you after us except to kill us for stealing the book?"

"Well that was the main reason we went after you, but we had no intention of killing you unless we had to."

Tsuki gave a small "Hn" in response. She found it hard to believe that they hadn't meant to try and kill them both. She winced slightly as he dug out several rocks from her side. She was surprised at how gentle he was and how carefully he did his work. He reminded her so much of him. She shock her head trying to get the thought out of her head, she didn't need to let this demon see her shed tears.

"Your quiet lucky that Hiei's sword didn't do much damage to your leg." The red head said as he pulled up Tsuki's pant leg to clean out the cut Hiei had given her during one of his attacks in the forest. "Why did you risk your leg for her?"

"She's my best friend. Why did you take the form of a human?"

"I was gravely injured and had to take the body of an unborn child."

"Why didn't you come back when you regained your power?"

He hesitated for a moment as if considering if she was worthy of a response. But before he could say anything she guessed his answer.

"You felt love for the woman that became your mother, right?"

He nodded silently and continued wrapping her leg. "You seem rather curious about the subject. If my guess is right you've lost someone close to you and want to remember the feeling of beginning with them."

"You're a fool! Demons don't have hearts and they don't fall in love!" Tsuki replied quickly without thinking. But as she thought about it later she began to see that he was right.

"That may be true but there are special cases in everything. I meant to ask earlier what your names are."

"Tsuki Newa and Yoru Atsui. What about your group?"

"Yusuke Urameshi. Kazuma Kuwabara, Hinote and Hiei Jaganshi, and my names Kurama."

"Kurama, as in the legendary bandit Yoko Kurama?"

He didn't answer and that was enough for Tsuki to know that her guess was right. They both remained silent after that, Kurama tending to her wounds and Tsuki lying quietly as he did so. When he had finished he took Tsuki in his arms again and carried her down the hall to another room like Yoru's. He gently set her on the bed before placing the shackles around her ankles.

"What's going to happen to us now?" Tsuki asked as Kurama turned to leave.

"I will go speak to Koenma and let both of you know later." And with that he left.

Tsuki lay awake for some time pondering hers and Yoru's fate. But eventually darkness took over her brain and she fell into another disturbing sleep. She dreamt of the past, how happy they had all been, how easy life had been. But that peace was disrupted by a shadow. It had no specific form or out line, it just hung there over all of them until it decided to make its move. As it attacked Tsuki felt herself lung at it trying to stop it from hurting what she cared about most. But she was pushed aside by the very thing she sought to protect. When she looked back she saw it feeding on her loved ones heart, which had been torn from his body. She charged forward but the shadow dissipated before she reached it. She leaned over him gently pulling his form onto her lap. Tears began to fall from her eyes and an uncontrollable feeling of lose consumed her. She pulled her dagger from its scabbard and placed it to her chest. But a hand stopped hers before the blade had even touched her skin. She looked down to see her love gazing back at her. His eyes were clouded and his hand shook as he took the dagger from her, she let out a small sob as he throw it to the side and reached his hand to her face.

"You… you must live." He said in a small blood choked voice.

"I can't live without you." Tsuki sobbed into his hand.

"I'll see you again someday. But today is not your day to die. Promise me you'll live and I promise to wait for you."

Tsuki could only nod in response to his promise. She felt him pull her head towards him slightly then felt his lips touch hers in one final kiss. When she pulled away his hand slid from her face and he lay motionless in her arms. She bent forward further and laid her head on his chest constantly sobbing "No! Don't leave me. Don't leave me!"

She shot up in her bed screaming these last words. She was drenched in a cold sweat and her face was covered in tears. She looked over to see Kurama staring at her with a look of pity in his eyes. How long had he been standing there? Slowly he reached forward and undid the shackles around her legs. Then without a word he took her from the bed and began walking down the hall. Tsuki vaguely remembered seeing Yoru, being led by Hiei as they entered a large room with an even larger man sit on a throne in it.

He stared down at them as they stopped in the center of the room below his feet. He continued to gaze at them as if testing their nerves to see if they would snap before his gaze. They both held their tongues and stood gazing back at him.

"Are these the demons who stole the book?" the giant asked in a deep booming voice.

"Yes lord Enma." Kurama said tighten his grip on Tsuki to stop her from falling.

"And what other crimes have they committed."

"We've stolen many other artifacts, killed a lot of fucking people, and vandalized the name demon." Yoru replied dislodging her hands from Hiei's grasp.

"Well you certainly don't like hiding things do you? Now we need to decide your punishment."

"Lord Enma, if I may," Kurama said stepping forward with Tsuki still in his arms "I believe that the best way for these two to make up for their pasts is to join our team."

Everyone, including King Enma, stopped and stared at Kurama. Never in all his years as King had Enma heard a suggestion like this. He leaned forward with a slight look of amusement in his eyes and said, "Why do you believe this to be a suitable punishment?"

"Simply because they have been through the training and need someway of using the strength they've acquired. If they join the team they would be benefiting Spirit world rather then causing it chaos."

King Enma remained silent for a moment apparently think on the matter. He slowly reached his hand to his face and stroked his beard with a small smile. Yoru's eyes gave off a small twinkle of what most would call hope. Tsuki, on the other hand, merely leaned her head on Kurama's shoulder and prayed that she would stay conscience until King Enma had made a decision.

"I agree. Yusuke will keep me posted on their development. We will see how soon we can open a portal to the temple for you."

"Thank you King Enma, sir." Kurama said bowing deeply before turning and walking out the door.

Later that night Tsuki lied awake in her quiet little room contemplating the latest nightmare she had had. It had been similar to the one before except she had been holding, not only the body of her lover but the bodies of two small children. One of them was a boy with short black hair tinged with red and the other was a little girl with brown hair striped with black. They both carried the wooden swords used for training and dressed in the same fashion as their parents. Tsuki had lain there; her face soaked with tears, and hugged all three of them close to her. She placed her hands on top of the children's heads and began to stroke the boy's short black and red dog ears and the girl's small brown cat ears. She then laid her head on her lovers and began to sob the words, "come back, please. Come back."

Slowly Tsuki got up from her bed and began to slip on her shoes. She silently crept to the door and pried it open careful not to let it squeak. She then slipped into the darkness of the hallway and, sticking to the shadows, began to navigate her way through the labyrinth of doors and halls. It took well over two hours before she finally found her way outside. She walked along the floating walkways that led from one world to another. Another hour passed by before she found the gate to one of the many worlds of the after life. This one had high steal gates decorated with the crests of hundreds of different samurai families, both human and demons. Outside of these gates stood three figures, one was tall dressed in ronin clothes and the other two were small, about waist high, carrying wooden bokens. All three of these figures had small, fuzzy demons ears.

"I knew I'd find you here." Tsuki said as she approached them.

"Mommy! Mommy! Daddy look, Mommies here." The little girl squealed as she ran into her kneeling mothers out stretched arms.

"We've been waiting a long time mommy. Daddy said you'd come back to us one day." Said the little boy as he snuggled his way into her arms.

Tsuki hugged her children close to her hoping that they might be able to stay like that forever. Slowly she gathered the kids up in her arms and walked to the third figure standing by the gates. He stood silently waiting for them to draw closer and as soon as they were within his reach his hand shot forward and gabbed Tsuki by the waist. They embraced each other for a long time merely taking in the feeling of being in each other's arms again.

"It's been to long Tsuki." Her husband said pulling away from her so as to look into her eyes "We've all missed you, right kids."

"Yeah we did, didn't we Kasha?" The little boy said to his sister.

"Yes we did very much; you should have heard Tenchi crying for you at night mommy."

"Now now kids, don't taunt each other." Tsuki said to the two children in her arms.

"Are you ganna stay with us forever now mommy?" Kasha said snuggling into her mothers shoulder.

"Please mommy, we really miss you." Tenchi replied to his sister's remark.

"I really wish I could kids, but mommies got some more work to do before she can be with you forever."

Both kids grabbed a handful of their mother's shirt and buried their faces in it as tears began to flow from their eyes. Tsuki looked up into her husband's eyes and saw a small line of tears flowing from them as well. He leaned forward and kissed her forehead as if to say he understood her and was willing to wait as long as need be for her to return.

"I promise we'll always be here for you."

"Yeah, we promise mommy." Both kids said in unison whipping their eyes with their sleeves.

"I love you all so much." She hugged each of her children separately as she placed them on the ground beside their father. When she stood back up she throw herself into her husbands arms in a long, emotional embrace. They kissed several times before parting and even then it was hard for her to let his hand go. But eventually she felt it slip out of hers and she began to feel herself being pull backwards by an unknown force. Next thing she realized she was back in her room lying on the floor in a cold sweat with Kurama leaning over her.

"Why are you here?" Tsuki demanded as she pulled herself onto her bed.

"I found you outside of the gate to the afterlife. May I ask what you were doing out there?" Kurama replied tilting his head slightly.

"None of you damn business."

And with that said Tsuki rolled onto her side and pretended to fall back asleep. Kurama left shortly there after saying as he closed the door that he hoped she'd be able to find peace with her past someday. Tsuki remained awake for the rest of the night silently vowing that the next time she returned here it would be for good.


	4. partners and family

Chapter Four

Early the next morning the girls were taken before Koenma again, this time they were each given a new set of clothes (black tank top and green pants for Tsuki and a black tube top with red pants for Yoru) and fitted with a pair of red and green…

"Collars! Why do we have to wear collars?" Yoru said in disgust as she flicked the bell that was attached to the front of hers.

"I agree with Yoru, these things are humiliating." Tsuki replied as Yusuke tightened the strap at the back of her neck.

"They are to insure that you two behave yourselves in the beginning. They will be taken off as soon as you prove yourselves to the team and Koenma." Kurama replied from his place next to the toddler that was his boss.

"That's right girls and if you don't behave those bells will force you to relive the worst memories of your past." Koenma said as he stared at the girls with an evil grin.

"Do you think that scares us? We relive our past every night when we sleep. There is nothing that you can possibly do to us to make us fear you." Yoru growled in Koenma's direction causing Kuwabara to tighten her collar to where it threatened to strangle her.

Koenma gave her a blank, wide eyed stare as if he had just lost the only edge he had against them. Which he had. What would his father say if the girls got loss and he didn't have any way of stopping them? He was about to protest about it when both the Jaganshi brothers came marching into the office arguing loudly.

"I'm telling you Hiei we really should go see Yukina." Hinote said as he slammed the door behind him.

"And I'm telling you that it was a mistake to even tell her I'm her brother." Hiei argued as he walked to the far corner of the room.

"So you'll just forget about her? Pretend that it never happened and that you don't care for her."

"Umm, what are you two arguing about?" Yusuke said looking from Hinote to Hiei.

"He refuses to go to the human world when we take the girls to Genkai's place. All because he doesn't want to see Yukina." Hinote responded pointing at Hiei.

Both girls looked at each other in confusion when Hinote said the words 'human world' and 'Genkai'. If their guess was right then they would soon be going to see one of the best fighters the human world had to offer. She had won the Dark Tournament years before, had trained Yusuke to use the spirit orb and had also been part of his team as the masked fighter. Now she was a wrinkled, old hag who taught beginners to control their spirit energy and strength. They both thought about the concept of meeting the legendary Genkai and possibly training with her when they felt a small tap on their shoulder, which caused them to turn with a start.

"You two ready for a trip to the human world?" Yusuke asked as he faced the others.

They walked down the halls filled with ogres and back outside to where all the paths to the afterlife led. They walked down the biggest of these paths to where Botan stood waiting for them. Behind her was a huge glowing sphere that the girls supposed led to the human world. Botan beckoned them forward and began placing them in pairs before allowing them to go through the portal. Yoru was placed next to Hiei just behind Kuwabara and Yusuke, while Tsuki was partnered with Kurama behind Hinote and Botan. Tsuki watched the rest of the group file into the swirling mass of light before she and Kurama were able to move forward. They both walked forward slowly but felt an immense tug when they came within a foot of the light. The next thing Tsuki remembered was being spun around uncontrollably by an unknown force and feeling very sick. As her head spun she felt a small, secure pressure on her side. Looking up she gave a start when she saw the face of her husband there with a small smile on his face. She shook her head with her eyes closed and when she looked back she saw Kurama facing her with the same smile playing on his lips. She continued to stare until she felt the force decrease and her feet touch ground again. She fell to her knees as soon as she felt her feet hit earth. Looking around she saw Yoru, Hinote, and Kuwabara on the ground from motion sickness.

"God damn portals! Can't they find an easier way to the other worlds?" Hinote moaned as he got to his feet.

"Stop whining dimwit. Those portals are good for your training, keeps you on your toes." Said a small raspy voice behind them.

They all looked up to see an old lady standing before them. She had slightly curly pink hair that was faded with gray due to her age. She was also small, shorter even then Hiei, dressed in a fighters style outfit and her light brown eyes gave the impression that she was ready to take on any challenge. This was the infamous master Genkai, winner of the dark tournament fifty-five years before and part of team Urameshi during the same compotation five years ago. The girls stared closely at her and felt a small vibration of spirit energy that made them shiver, not with fear but with excitement, excitement at the thought of possibly training with her and learning her secrets.

"Nice to see you too grandma." Yusuke said in Hinote's defense.

"Shut up Yusuke, your still in deep shit for not reporting back here for training two days ago." Genkai said giving Yusuke an evil glare that would have made any normal human cower in fear.

Yusuke merely smiled and gave a small sigh in response. Genkai then turned and noticed the girls still sitting on the ground. She eyed them for a moment before turning to Yusuke with another evil glare.

"Who are they?" she said to him in a semi angry tone.

"These are they two demons that Koenma sent us after. Then he told us to bring them to you." Hinote replied

"Why did he tell you to bring them here?"

Before anyone could answer they heard a small cooing sound coming towards them. They all turned to see a small flying blue thing with a beak, another small white and blue creature hopping along the ground followed by two, very happy and relieved looking girls. One of these girls had short brown hair and was dressed in a short pink dress, and the other had long sea green hair tied back with a red hair band and wearing an ice blue kimono.

"Yukina!" Kuwabara yelled as the tiny ice maiden ran towards them.

"Kazuma, I'm so relieved to see that you and everyone else are alright." Yukina replied as she stopped in front of them.

Both girls watched in disgust as Kuwabara began to preach about how strong the power of love was. Yoru made a move to say something about his idiocy but stopped when she heard Tsuki give a snort of laughter. She turned to see her friend rolling on the ground with her hand over her mouth pointing at a very agitated looking Hiei. It was no wonder why, perched on top of his head was the small white and blue creature that up close appeared to be nothing more then a head and tail with eyes and a mouth, tangled in his hair making cooing that sounded a lot like 'coon'. His eyes began to twitch slightly as the little creature began rubbing itself on his skull in a sort of 'I missed you' way. Yoru couldn't help herself; she let out a loud burst of laughter that would have made any wonder about her sanity. Both of them stopped after a moment but started up again when the small blue creature planted itself atop Yusuke's head and began making tiny squeaking noises.

"Get this ridiculous thing off of my head." Hiei said with the voice like he was going to kill someone.

Hinote quickly reached over and grabbed the little creature from his brother and held it in his arms like a little dog. The creature made a small noise of displeasure at being separated from Hiei but soon grew comfortable in Hinote's arms.

"Honestly Hiei, I don't see how you could hate your own spirit beast. I mean look at him, he's so cute." Hinote said holding the little beast in front of his face.

"Hold on, back up, are you saying that that is Hiei's spirit beast?" Yoru said in surprise.

"Yeah, Hiei died two years ago and rather then send him to one of the other worlds Koenma decided to give him a spirit egg and restore his life."

"But I thought you had to die unexpectedly in order to get a privilege like that." Tsuki replied not really believing the story.

Hinote rolled his eyes in an embarrassed manner before continuing, "It was unexpected. He died rescuing me from a sludge demon."

There was a moment of silence before the girls were consumed by another burst of laughter. Not only was it a know fact that sludge demons were the most disgusting demons in history but also that they were incredibly weak. To be captured by one was a disgrace as well as an embarrassment to any demon.

"Ok, let me see if I have this straight, your saying that Hiei, the same Hiei that help win the dark tournament, the Hiei that stole the conjuring blade from King Enma himself, couldn't even beat a sludge demon." Yoru said the whole time trying to hold back an immense giggle, which finally came out as she finished.

Yoru didn't even get the chance to catch her breath before Hiei had her by the throat with his sword in hand. Yoru wiggled for dear life and air but couldn't break the grip that was slowly breaking her neck.

"If I'm so weak answer me this, how is it that you were captured by me?" Hiei said with a snarl.

"Hiei, that's enough!" Genkai shouted from her place half way up the stairs to her temple. "You'll need her in the up coming months so I suggest you don't kill her just yet."

"And why should I listen to you old hag?" Hiei growled in response.

"Orders from Enma, you are _all_ to stay for more training and that girl is your sparing partner so take care of her."

"Your crazy lady, Yoru and I are more then capable of taking care of ourselves." Tsuki said in disgust at the thought of being babysat.

"I see we have a lot of work to do." Genkai grumbled before turning back to the group, "This is the first part of your training learn it and learn it well. In order to survive you must be able to trust each other not to screw up, to know that the rest of your team is looking out for you. In other words treat each other like they were the closest thing to your heart."

And with those words six months of training started. Ever morning the group would rise far before the sun, run three miles through the forest of pain, carry buckets of water up the five thousand five hundred and forty two stairs (Yoru had counted out of pure boredom) that lead to the temple, fight each other in the room of darkness, and lastly focus their spirit energy into a sphere at the end of their finger, or whatever body part Genkai chose, and balance on the end of a needle for an hour. All this and they still had to make breakfast. Their afternoon consisted of more balancing on needles, more carrying water, shooting their spirit energy at targets throughout the forest and grounds, and then five to six hours of sparing with their partners.

During the first evening of training Genkai had split the group into pairs of two and sent them to training in different areas all around the temple grounds. Naturally Yusuke and Kuwabara were put together and sent to the wasteland part of the grounds, Yoru had been placed with Hiei and sent to a place near the river, Tsuki was placed with Kurama and sent to the very heart of the forest of pain, lastly was Hinote. Being as there was no one to partner with he was given the task of going from group to group at random intervals and chasing them with his gun so as to prepare them for surprise attacks. Of course Genkai didn't warn him that the other groups may attack back but he learned that on his own and was more then happy when Koroko came and asked if he would baby sit her kids. After she left, however, he was reduced to Genkai's lackey and force to do what ever she ask under fear of a more savior training then the others were going through.

One evening, after the days training, Yoru lay awake in her bed listening to the sounds of her sleeping comrades. Once she was certain that all were fast asleep she quietly slipped out of the room onto the porch that laid just at the edge of the forest of pain. She gave a quick glance around to see if Hiei was sleeping in any trees nearby (He never sleeps indoors) seeing none she undid the tie that held her sleeping yukata closed and let it fall to the ground. She stood in silence for a moment, enjoying the sensation of the wind and moonlight on her skin before she dropped to all fours and felt her body begin to change. It was mild at first, she felt the tingle of fur growing throughout her body, then a more painful shock filled her as her bones began to shift and grow. Her hands and feet began to change into paws with razor sharp claws. Within minuets she had completely changed into a powerful cat, with beautiful golden fur and black spots outlined in a deep red. Her eyes were bright, almost starry, as she glanced at the open forest in front of her. With one spring from her powerful legs she leapt into the first tree then the next before dropping back to the ground at a run. For hours all she did was run through the forest simply enjoying the wind through her fur, the soft earth beneath her feet, and the gentle light of the moon above.

Eventually she returned to the temple. She was completely exhausted and quickly found a bucket of water so as to quench her thirst. After that she quietly pawed her way back to the porch where she'd left her clothes and changed back to her normal form. She swiftly pulled her arms through the holes of her yukata and tied it before sitting down on the hard wood of the porch.

"That's quiet a form you have." Whispered a voice from behind her

Yoru spun around and saw Hiei standing behind her. He was leaning against one of the pillars that supported the roof and had a semi-amused smile on his face. Yoru pulled her yukata closed around her neck as if he intended to rip them off her. But he merely stood there glaring at her until she decided to speak.

"How much did you see?"

"Your entire run. If I didn't know better I'd of thought you would try to escape."

Yoru gave the bell around her neck a flick, reminding him that she couldn't run if she wanted to. She gave a small sigh as she remembered when she and Tsuki used to run like that. She was almost tempted to tell her thoughts to the demon standing behind her but decided better of it.

"Hiei I've been wondering, what was your past like?" Yoru asked taking Hiei completely by surprise.

"Why do you care?"

"Because everyone else here seems to know but wont say anything. Even if we aren't friends, we are teammates and I'd like to know if there is anything I should keep an eye out for. Anything that might really, set you off in a fight."

There was silence for a moment as Yoru waited for an answer.

"Hiei, are you even listening to me?"

She turned and found the doorway behind her to be empty. She gave an irritated sigh and threw a rock into the nearest tree hoping that she'd hit him. After a while she lifted herself to her feet and stumbled inside thinking that she might still manage to get an hour worth of sleep. As she turned back for a last glimpse at the stars she didn't notice the two blood red eyes watching her and how they seemed to become soft as she slid the door shut and settled into bed.


	5. old enemy new rage

_Chapter Five_

The next morning, before training began, Yoru crept out of the temple with Tsuki at her side for another long run, in their full demon forms, through the forest. When they returned, several hours later then they had expected, they found the rest of the group standing on the front porch. Yusuke looked down at them as they approached with an almost angry look in his eyes.

"Where have you two cats been?" he said in an agitated tone

"We went for a run." Tsuki replied checking the watch she had "barrowed" from Hinote, "It's only 2:30 why are all of you up, training doesn't start for another hour?"

"We have a mission." Kurama said as he pushed himself off the beam he was leaning on.

"Well that's good for you; tell us how it went, later." Yoru yawned trying to push her way through the boys.

Before she could reach the door that lead to the inside of the temple she felt a firm hand on her shoulder and when she turned she saw Hiei's deep red eyes staring at her.

"You two are coming with us." He said with a small growl.

"You cannot be serious." Yoru whined.

"Oh, but we are." Hinote chimed in.

"Who are we fighting?" Tsuki asked.

"Some demon that spirit worlds has been after for a while. Supposedly him and his sister destroyed a demon lord's army about two hundred years ago plus destroyed several other villages. About fifty years after that they separated, the sister went off somewhere, but the brother continued to kill, mostly for the fun of it."

Tsuki's eyes went wide. Might this be the demon she was searching for, "What was the lord's name?"

Yusuke let out a small chuckle, "Hiei should remember him. He fought and killed him."

"It was the ice demon Seiryu." Hiei said without emotion

Both girls went ridged for a moment and gave each other a look of mutual understanding. Yoru silently removed Hiei's hand from her shoulder then proceeded to walk into the temple. Moments later she returned with her sword and Tsuki's bag of seeds. When they looked back at the group they were met with several strange looks mostly of mild curiosity.

"What? Are you just going to stand there all day or are we ganna go hunt demons?" Tsuki growled with a new kind of voice that the group had never heard from her before. Her voice seemed to have gone from a small, sad whisper to a vicious, bloodthirsty growl from the time they first mentioned the demon siblings.

"Um, sure, were going." Yusuke said with a small hint of sarcasm.

A couple hours later they arrived at their destination. In front of them stood an old, collapsing structure that was once the castle of the lord Seiryu and his army. The walls that were once as strong and unbreakable as any shield were now a crumbling mess of bricks and mortar. Vines covered the walls where the bricks had remained and small animals scurried back and forth from their hiding places as the group approached.

Tsuki and Yoru were both taken aback by what they saw before them. Tsuki silently placed her hand over her heart and Yoru had to grab her hand for support as they stared at what was once their home. Both could almost hear the hundreds of other demon soldiers that used to share this place with them. Tsuki silently pried Yoru's fingers from her hand, walked forward a few paces, bent down, and picked a small red and black flower that was growing between two stones. She gave a weary smile as she remembered that these were their favorite. With that she gave a glance to Yoru, who nodded her head in understanding, before leaping off into the woods.

"Whoa whoa whoa, is she aware that there is a demon out there that wants to kill us?" Yusuke said franticly

"She has her reasons." Yoru replied quietly

Not far off, Tsuki continued to run through the rubble of the fallen castle and through the thick brush of the forest until she came to a small grove about a mile from where she had left the group. It was surrounded on all sides by red leaved trees, and from their branches fell a rainbow of flowers that ranged in color from white, to a deep purple, to black. And under the one farthest from her laid three graves. Each was marked by a wreath of red roses, which had long since died, and a large white stone that read Kasha, Kekun, and Tenchi.

Slowly she stepped forward and placed the flower she had picked just beyond the gravestone of Kekun and allowed her spirit energy to flow through it causing it to grow into a beautiful bush of black and red flowers. She did the same thing to the two smaller graves by placing some of her own seeds in the loosely placed soil. Soon the air around the graves was perfumed by the flowers sweet odor. Tsuki sat back on her legs taking in the flowers sweet smell and the strange calm that seemed to flow through her.

"You always did have a soft spot for flowers." Said a calm, gentle voice behind her.

Tsuki spun around to see Toukon standing behind her. At least it looked like him, with his spiked shaggy hair, blue fighter pants, black shirt, and glittering hazel brown eyes. He gave her a small smile and wink before disappearing. She shook her head slightly and looked back again to see Kurama standing where Toukon once was.

"What are you doing here?" she replied with a small hint of shock

"You ran off so suddenly, is something wrong?" Kurama replied completely ignoring the question.

Tsuki gave a weary sigh in responses. For a split second there she had almost hoped that their ghosts had finally come for her. She turned back to the graves and thought for a moment. Could I possibly trust this demon enough to tell him my story? Would he tell the others? Well, guess I'll just have to leave it to faith. She turned back to Kurama intending to tell him her story, but stopped when she noticed another figure standing just beyond the ring of trees. She glanced at Kurama then swiftly back to the trees. He gave her a small nod before producing a red rose out of his spirit energy. Tsuki noticed their stalker twitch slightly and gave Kurama another glance telling him to look casual before attacking. Understanding her fully he knelt down beside her and offered her the rose. She pretended to look surprised at the jester but was unknowingly fishing some of her own seeds out of her pouch. She stretched out her hand as if to take the flower but at the last moment both she and Kurama turned in the demons direction, throwing an assortment of seeds and lashing out with a deadly looking rose whip. When the smoke from the exploding seeds settled they found no sign of the demon that was there.

"Still using the old tricks are we Tsuki?" said a maniacal almost evil voice to their right

Both turned to see the demon leaning against the nearest tree with his arms crossed. He was a reasonably tall demon with white hair that stuck up in peaks all around his head, a pair of black tipped dog ears, and a uniform almost identical to the one Toukon used to wear save for its red, rather then black, color. Tsuki eyed him for a moment opened mouthed, but when she looked into his eyes she let out a small gasp. She had seen those eyes far too many times in her nightmares; there cold brown surface and heartless black edges sent a creepy chill down her spin.

"What's wrong kitty cat? You look like you've just seen a ghost." The demon said in an airy tone

"Tsuki, do you know this…" Kurama began but was cut short as an immense wave of spirit energy hit him and he saw the intense look of fury in Tsuki's eyes.

_This is it."_ Tsuki thought as she formed a long staff covered in thorns that could easily slice through the strongest material known to man, _this is the demon I've been searching for, the one that killed my family and destroyed our home. I will not let him live!_

She charged forward with all her speed and swung at their opponent, but he easily dodged before the blow could land. She looked around but saw no sign of him. Hearing a noise from behind she quickly turned, staff raised, to see the rest of the group scrambling through the brush.

"What the hell is going on here?" Hinote yelled as he struggled to detach himself from a tree branch

"Yeah, we felt someone's spirit energy going berserk all the way from the castle." Kuwabara grumbled picking himself off the ground

"It's nothing boys. All of you get out of her now, yes that means you too Yoru!" Tsuki said harshly as Yoru made to protest

"Oh, but why not let them stay. It might make thing interesting later on." Said the demons voice from atop Toukon's tombstone

"Get away from those!" Tsuki snarled showing a fair amount of fang

The demon gave a small, depressed sigh, "Still, even after all these years I can't believe that my brother decided to share his life with a weak minded, low class, pussy of a feline like you."

The group could feel Tsuki's rage increase every second that the demon stood on the tombstones. After another moment he stepped down from his perch only to move to the smaller grave marked "Kasha" and pluck an unopened flower from its branch. He stared at it slowly twirling it in his fingers. He gave another grin this time accompanied by an evil chuckle before turning back to the group.

"What also surprised me were the children. Honestly, I never thought it was possible for a dog and a cat demon to have children together. My hat is off to you for that." He made a small gesture as if to sweep a hat from his head before looking back at the flower, "Indeed, they were fine children with the agility and beauty of a cat but the keen senses and strength of a dog. They were indeed quiet strong if I remember and very brave coming after me themselves while their daddy defended the castle. There's another trait, also, that I must point out, stubbornness. I swear it took me twenty hits each before they fell and even then they didn't stop trying. It truly is a pity that such promised strength went to waste so early in life."

And with that the demon sent the flower ablaze in his hand. Tsuki couldn't take it any longer. She lunged at him determined to take his head off with one slash. But again he dodged her attack, except this time he didn't disappear. After dodging to her right the demon came up and managed to catch her in the stomach with his fist. A groan of pain escaped her but that didn't stop her from trying to force her staff through his chest. Again he jumped back and again she tried to hit him. After minuets of blind fighting she managed to regain enough coherent thought to surround him with death plant seeds and trip him to the ground. As she stood there over him a million thoughts flashed through her head and she didn't notice her own plan working against her. The seeds she had laid on the ground were reacting to the blood pouring from the cuts she had sustained during the fight.

"So is this it Tsuki? Are you going to kill me right here, in front of your friends and family graves?" The demon asked slowly reaching for the nearest death plant.

Tsuki forced him up by the front of his shirt so fast that she heard the air rush from his lungs, "I would do far worst then that to you. If I could I would skin you alive, lay you skin out to dry in the sun in plain sight, cut your throat open just deep enough to where I could control your wind pipe, then I'd amuse myself by controlling your breathing for awhile before going back and cutting your muscles away from you bones, only away from your bones, with a dulled throne head, and again I would amuse myself by controlling your heart beat, and finally after all the pain and suffering I had caused you, I would simply get up take your skin from the ground, burn it in front of you and walk away leaving you to hang there with the smell of your own decaying and burned flesh in the air."

"Well not to say that doesn't sound fun, but I have a better idea."

In a motion to fast for most of the group to see the demon forced a death seed deep into Tsuki's rib cage. Immediately the seed began to react first slowly draining her of her spirit powers then causing her muscles to spasm until she fell to the ground.

The pain that was issuing through her body was so great that she didn't notice the shadow that had flashed above her or the yells of her teammates as they tried to defeat their new demon opponent. She felt a strong pair of arms lift her from the ground and carry her away from the battle. She fought to object but her savior easily overpowered her. When they did stop they were far away from the battle and Tsuki was able to pick up the sent of rose in the air, telling her that her kidnapper/ savior was Kurama.

"I told you to leave, why didn't you listen?" She crocked out as he began trying to remove the plant from her.

"We're your friends Tsuki; don't ever think that we'd abandon you." He replied softly

Quickly finding what little strength she had left she pushed him away, back in the direction of the fight, "You have to help them. They'll die if they don't get out of there. The loss of one life is far less then the loss of five. Go, NOW!"

Through half closed, watery eyes she saw him give her a look of uncertainty before turning and zipping back to the battle site. Tsuki watch for a moment before leaning her head on a rock behind her. Her eyes began to glaze over and her body felt weak. She could hear a voice calling to her as her brain went fuzzy.

"Tsuki, Tsssssuki we're waiting for you." The voice said in a singsong kind of way

"Mommy are you finally coming home?" another smaller voice joined in

Tsuki blinked back the glaze and saw her family standing before her for the second time that day. She smiled slightly as she stared at them. Toukon standing there, looking just as strong as ever, holding their daughter, Kasha, on his shoulder, her long chestnut red hair blowing in the wind catching the sun that brought out the black tint in her cat ears and tail, her deep golden brown eyes seemed alive with happiness as she looked at her mother, and their son, Tenchi, hanging on his father's other arm like a monkey, his black hair still stuck up in small peaks around his head showing off his unusual white highlights but almost completely hiding his dog ears from view. His eyes seemed to hold the same happiness but underneath it was an understanding that what he hoped for may not come that day.

"I'm sorry everyone, I know I'm knocking on deaths door right now but I still have one more thing left to do, I'll be joining you soon though. Toukon before you go could you do me a favor?" Tsuki finished as her family turned to leave

"You want me to remove the death plant?" Toukon replied with a slight smirk and an "I thought you were stronger then that" look

"No, I'll live with the pain, could you do something with Tenchi's hair? I can't see his ears."

With a small look of shock both Toukon and Tenchi began to smooth down the front of his hair so that his mom could see his two white dog ears. Tsuki smiled as they finished and nodded in approval before blowing her family a kiss and watching them leave. As they disappeared from view she let her head fall back against the rock and her eyes close as the death plant wiggled its way deeper into her body.

Meanwhile, back at the fight scene the group was trying its best to hold its own against its new foe, but thing weren't going the way they had planned it. From the moment they jumped in they were shown no mercy from their adversary. Yusuke's spirit gun blast had been made worthless by their opponent's ability to reflect it back to its source and Kuwabara's spirit sword left nothing but a scratch even when he landed a direct blow. Hinote, after watching his teammates failed attempts at using their spirit powers, was forced to find an alternate means of causing damage. His solution, to reformat the readings of his bullets so that they worked off his demonic energy rather then spirit, wasn't nearly as affective as he'd hoped but it did manage to leave their opponent extremely pissed off and sending black fire balls in his direction. Yoru, in the beginning, had tried to counter their opponents fire ball with some of her own created from the death plants that Tsuki had left and her own demonic flame. But this only succeeded in irritating the demon and melting her sword when she tried to use it. Hiei's sword had proved to be the most effective, leaving their enemy with a large cut running down his left arm. But that was all the use they were able to get from it because it shattered as Hiei's blow landed. Now all the group could do was move about to avoid getting hit by the numerous black fireballs headed in their directions.

"What do we do now Urameshi? Everything we throw at him he throws right back." Kuwabara said as he scrambled to get out of the way of another volley of fireballs

"What ya looking at me for, do I look any better off then the rest of you?" Yusuke retorted dodging the fireballs and landing next to Kuwabara in a cloud of dust

As they crouched ready for the next attack they were surprised to see their opponent surrounded by a spinning cloud of red dust. His eyes were wide but still calm as he confronted this new challenge in his battle. But as he moved to touch the swirling mass he found it to be as sharp as Hiei's sword had been and within moments his hands were bleeding where they had been cut to the bone.

"Hurry, gather the other and we'll head back to Genkai's temple." Said an urgent voice just behind Kuwabara and Yusuke

They turned to see Kurama standing behind them seemingly controlling the swirl of dust, which the boys now knew to be rose petals.

"Where's Tsuki?" Yoru said climbing down from a tree to the boys left.

"She's safe for the moment, now, get the others."

Yusuke quickly did as he was told and found Hinote and Hiei hiding, much to Hiei's displease, amongst the bushes nearby. They regrouped back where Kurama stood with his whirlpool of rose petals still preventing their enemy from attacking. As soon as he dropped this defense the entire group turned and made a run back to the portal with Yusuke in the lead and Yoru bringing up the rear. About half way through the forest Kurama turned and ran into a thick bunch of bushes and trees. When Yoru noticed this she also turned from the rest of the group and followed his scent until she came to a small clearing amongst the trees. Once there she lost track of his scent but noticed a small indentation in the grass when a body had once lain. She felt the area and found the grasses to still be warm and as she looked closer she saw markings in the grass nearby she noticed a few droplets of blood and figured that this was where Kurama had left Tsuki. Standing up again she began to follow his trail but soon stopped when she felt an all too familiar demonic presence in the air. Turning fast she saw the same demon they had been fighting minuets ago standing in a tree not ten feet from her. Quickly she drew her dagger from its scabbard on her back ready to defend herself even if she knew it was pointless.

"You haven't changed much either have you Yoru?" the demon said with a small laugh

"What the hell do you want Okune? Haven't you caused both her and me enough pain?" Yoru retorted shaking slightly

"Aw, and here I was hoping for a happy reunion."

"How could you even think that after what you and your sister did to us? Did you actually think you'd have a warm welcome?"

"No I didn't but, hey, can't say I didn't try. Actually the reason I returned is because my employer has shown a particular interest in you two and would like to offer you a proposition."

"And what might that be?"

"When you think you are truly ready to hear come to the castle of ice and fire in the Far East I'll be waiting there to escort you to my lord."

"And may I ask this lords name before you leave?"

"He is the demon lord Cho."

And with those final words Okune vanished into the forest leaving Yoru to find her own way back to her friends.


	6. Yoru's story

_Chapter Six_

It took Yoru slightly longer then expected but when she did find her way to the portal she was greeted with five relieved faces. Even Tsuki managed to open a half dead eye and give her a relieved smile from her perch on Kurama's back before letting her head slump forward again.

"Where have you been? We thought the demon might have come after you." Hinote said in frenzy.

"No, I just tried to follow fox boy there and got lost is all." Yoru said half-heartedly.

"If it isn't much trouble could we please get back to the temple?" Kurama said with a worried tone, "If we don't get this death plant out of her soon she will die."

This seemed to kick all their butts into high gear and soon they were all rushing up the stairs to Genkai's temple. Once at the top Kurama practically broke the doors down only to find Genkai, sitting at the foot of the giant statue at the other end, ready and waiting for them.

"I'm guessing things didn't go quiet as planned?" the old master said gruffly as Kurama laid Tsuki down on the mat she had set out.

"Shut up grandma and do something for her." Yusuke replied huffily.

Slowly Genkai walked around Tsuki's half dead form as if trying to figure out what was wrong even though the cause was apparent. Even so she took in everything about her patient starting with the cold sweat that had begun to issue from her, the occasional spasms of her arms and legs, and the long leafy vines that had begun to sprout from all her open cuts and even some recently closed ones.

"Seems the only way to save her will be to cut the plant from her and hope we don't kill her in the process." She finally said pulling out some very painful looking cutting tools, "Kurama, I'll require your help with this."

"Of course master Genkai." Kurama said.

"And the rest of you will have to leave. Also, no matter what you hear, don't come in."

With several mumbles and a few bowed heads the group left the room closing the door with a smart smack behind them. Once outside the entire group quietly made their way to the back of the temple where their rooms and the back garden stood.

"I hope she comes out of this ok. I may have only known her for little over half a year but she's grown on me." Hinote said with a sigh as he pulled a futon from his room on to the porch.

"Yeah, no kidding things really wouldn't be the same without her." Yusuke agreed with a small smirk that quickly became a pondering frown, "Still I wonder why that demon got under her skin so much."

"Guess we'll never know," Kuwabara remarked plucking an apple from the closest tree.

"There is one person who might know," Hiei replied surprising everyone that he hadn't run off yet.

"Really, who is it?" Yusuke said taking Kuwabara's lead and picking another apple.

"She's sitting not three feet from you." was Hiei's short reply.

Both boys nearly chocked on their fruits while Hinote just gawked at Yoru open mouthed. As for Yoru she merely hung her head hoping that she might disappear into the wood and rice paper walls.

"Is that true Yoru, do you really know what set Tsuki off?" Hinote asked propping himself up on his elbows.

"It wasn't just Tsuki; believe me, seeing him again set my blood boiling too."

"So, you both knew him?"

"Oh yes, and trust me when I say he hurt us both in more ways then one."

"How so?"

Yoru sat back for a moment thinking, "Oh God, where to start?"

"The beginnings always nice."

"Well it all started back when we were still new to the ninja business. We still lived in the cat demon village way off in the west…"

_**Flashback**_

"Tsuki, get back here." A young girl said laughing slightly as the friend she had been chasing through the forest on the other side of the village stopped and began swinging on the nearest tree like a monkey, "You know what my mom will say if I'm out past dark."

"Which mom are we talking about here Yoru, because last I check your dad was up to four wives and three girlfriends?" Her friend replied finally dropping from her perch.

"You know which one I'm talking about Su. My birth mother is the only one that gives a damn about me."

"That may be true but I also know that you don't give a damn whether or not you get back in time."

"Tonight's different. I have something planned."

With an awkward stare from her friend the two small cat demon began walking back to their homes in the village of the cat demon tribe.

"So what do you have planned tonight? New ways of leaving this place and starting our new careers?" Tsuki asked as they entered the marketing part of the village.

"No, not really. I kinda have a date." Yoru replied with a hint of red showing in her cheeks.

"Oooooh, your mom would be pissed if she found out."

"I know, that's why she's not going to find out."

"At least tell me who it is."

"Nope you'll have to guess."

Tsuki's eyes frowned as she began ticking off the boys in the village that would be most likely to catch Yoru's eye.

"The chief's son?"

"Nope."

"Kori from training?"

"Nope."

"Is it anyone I know?"

"Nope."

"Does he even live in the village?"

"Nope."

This stopped Tsuki dead in her track. Not only was it forbidden to even associate with outsiders and could be send a person strait into exile, but to actually be involved with one was to have both sentenced to a horrible death.

"Yoru that's dangerous and reckless beyond belief." Tsuki replied eyes opened wide but then becoming soft in a playful, encouraging smile, "That's my girl, I taught you well."

"Hey take it easy you only a year ahead of me." Yoru groaned as Tsuki messed up her hair.

"I know but a lot happens in a year. What kind of demon is he?"

Yoru quickly looked around and pulled Tsuki down so as to whisper it in her ear.

"He's a dog demon from the east. He told me that he, his brother, and sister worked for the demon lord Inutaishou."

Tsuki's eyes opened wide with shock at hearing this name. Even living in a cat demon tribe they had been taught to fear Inutaishou's name from birth. Their village had lost many great warriors to him and his sons Inuyasha and Sesshomaru.

"So you're going on a date with one of the assassins of the most dangerous lord in the east?" Tsuki said her eyes filling with tears before she throw her arm around the little blonde demon beside her, "I'm so proud of you Yoru, not even three hundred years old and already finding extremely strong potential mates."

By the time Tsuki had finished praising Yoru they had stopped in front of the small wooden house Yoru's family had built. Outside waiting for her was a small middle aged women in a deep blue kimono holding an infant in her arms and looking slightly worried. When she saw the girls, however, her face lifted to a slightly annoyed state.

"Yoru, where have you been?" said the women in a shrill voice.

"Out in the forest with Tsuki." Yoru replied, "I told you I was going about three hours ago."

"Yes I remember that, but I don't remember giving you permission to wear that outfit."

She was looking down at Yoru's black tube top shirt, bright red pants, and bare feet with a scolding look. Yoru merely shrugged she knew that it was pointless for her to try to tell her mom, for the hundredth time, why she couldn't run in the tight kimonos she usually made her wear. Without saying another word to her Yoru waved goodbye to Tsuki and walked past her mother into the house.

Several hours later after everyone had gone to bed Yoru quietly dressed herself in the clothes she had worn on her outing with Tsuki and grabbed her fathers' old, rusty sword from under her pillow. Quietly she maneuvered her way through the maze of futons and sleeping bodies to the door and the freedom of the open air. Once outside she took a deep breath before zipping off to the edge of the village. When she arrived there she leaned against the nearest house pillar and waited for her date to show his doggy face. After about ten minutes of waiting she heard a voice from somewhere above her.

"How long exactly would you of waited there?"

Yoru looked up with a start to see a pair of white ears hanging over the edge of the roof above her. She smiled vaguely as she noticed the black, fuzzy tips of the ears twitch as if catching a faint sound.

"I would have waited for at least another hour and then killed you the next time we met." Yoru replied with a small laugh.

She heard him snicker in response as if he thought that this feat would be impossible. He then grabbed the edge of the roof and flipped himself off landing with a dull splat in front of Yoru. He was reasonable tall with a red ninja outfit trimmed in black with spiky white hair tipped in black like his ears. His face seemed kind but it carried with it a hardness that was only found in people who have seen a lot of blood in their life but had come to enjoy it and wouldn't mind killing those close to them. She giggled at him even though that wasn't the first time he'd done something acrobatic like that. After all _he_ was the one who taught her how to.

"So, where to tonight my brave little monkey dog." Yoru asked earning her an awkward glance.

"Not sure, how about a full form race through the forest?"

"That sounds great. After you Okune."

Almost immediately he dropped to all fours and began to change. First his hands and feet became black paws then he began to grow a pelt of thick, snowy white fur with a black main around his neck and black tuffs at the end of his ears and tail and the black rings around his eyes seemed to make the glow with an even more menacing brown gleam.

Yoru followed suit and sprouted her own pair of paws and pelt, hers being a vibrant golden brown speckled with black almost flamed shaped spots outlined in a deep red and a black blaze down her face also outlined in red.

_Last one to the ridge has to shave themselves. _Yoru said to Okune with her mind before bolting off into the forest without so much as a backwards glance

_We'll see about that at the ridge._ Okune replied before sprinting off after her.

After an hour of running Yoru finally stopped at the edge of the forest. She slowly stepped from the trees, still in her demon form, and walked around the edge of a large rock formation and found Okune laying stretched out on the edge of the ridge with his paws flaying in the air trying to swat are a firefly.

_Hiya Yoru. What kept ya? _Okune said in a half amused tone.

_God damn you! How do you always manage to do that? _Yoru remarked in a less then happy tone but still cuddled up next to him anyways.

_I'm magic._ Was Okune's simple remark as he swung a paw around Yoru.

As they lay there, staring at the newly risen moon Yoru couldn't help but feel content. But as she laid there she began to wonder how long it could last.

_So, what have you been up to lately? You've been gone for a while. Has anything happened? _Yoru asked trying to shake away the thoughts she was having.

Okune gave a depressed sigh before beginning, _my brother left the team about a week ago. He said that he'd finally had enough of killing and that he wanted to try and make it on his own. Lord Inutaishou has put a bounty on his head but so far no one has even been able to locate him. He also ordered us to kill him and any of his associates on sight if any of us find him first. _

Yoru looked slightly disturbed at the emotionless sense in which he said this. She was, by far, no stranger to killing but the thought of taking the life of a loved one was too painful to bear.

_What about you? What's been happening in your life?_

_Same old, same old. Moms a bitch, dad has way too many girlfriends/ wives and there are way too many little kids in the house. But other then that Tsuki and I think we may have found a way of getting out of this cursed place. We got offered to go train with the demon lord Seiryu and possibly become part of his army._

_When do you leave?_

_Tomorrow, we hope. _

_Then I'm glad I got to see you again._

_Okune…_

Slowly Yoru transformed back into her other form and watched as Okune did the same. They stared at each other for a moment, Okune with a mild curiosity and Yoru with a hint of nervousness.

"What is it Yoru?" Okune asked.

Yoru didn't answer but slowly drew herself up to him and pressed her lips to his in, what she had hoped to be, a meaningful kiss. But she was abruptly cut off when she felt a hand collide with her face forcing her to the ground.

"What the hell are you doing you sick, demented cat? I'm a fucking dog demon our species were never meant to mate!"

And with that he got to his feet, changed once again into his demon form, and ran off into the woods. Yoru was dumbfounded, emotionally hurt and left to find her own way home.

The next morning she was rudely awakened by Tsuki nudging her in the head with her staff from outside her window. She gave Tsuki the finger and rolled over hoping to get a few more minutes to think. Her mind had been racing all night looking for the reason that Okune had refused her so harshly. Once again she was dragged from her thoughts by Tsuki and her stick.

"If you don't stop poking me with that thing I'm ganna take it and shove it up your ass!" Yoru finally remarked throwing the blankets from her face.

"Fine, then I'll just go to lord Seiryu's castle by myself." Tsuki said and walked out of sight of the window.

"Ahh, Tsuki wait, I'm coming!" Yoru yelled as she tried to drag her shirt over her head.

"Stop rushing Yoru, you're going to make it to obvious that we're leaving." Tsuki said reappearing at the window, "Put your pants and shirt on under your kimono and act like we're going into town for a bit. I'll wait outside and remember: normality is the key."

Yoru gave a sigh of relief and again began dressing. After throwing on her red pants and black tube top she wiggled into a light blue kimono and bright yellow obi. In her opinion she was wearing the ugliest thing in the whole demon world. She also wrapped her sword in a length of cloth that her mother had been nagging her to take to the market, which also gave her her reason for leaving. After checking herself to make sure she wasn't giving her true intensions away, she walked into the living area where she was greeted by five bodies hurling themselves at her.

"Yeah, big sisters awake!" they all sang as they bounced on Yoru's stomach

"Yes, I'm awake, now can all of you get off of me? Please, I need to go to town."

"Awe, but sister we wanna play."

"I promise we can play later, and maybe if you're good I'll bring you each home a treat."

"Okay!"

With that, the children quickly scrambled off their sister and Yoru was able to make it outside without any other incidents. Once outside, she wasted no time in dragging Tsuki from her perch against the wall to the busy streets of town. While there, the two of them sold the cloth and a couple kimonos that Tsuki had made but never actually worn.

"Oh, Yoru, before I forget, I've got something for you." Tsuki said paying for the food they would be taking. She quickly undid a cloth bundle she had tied across her back and handed Yoru a pair of black high top shoes before replacing the empty space with the food.

"Oooookay, why the shoes?" Yoru asked with a curious look.

"Because we are going to be walking for a long time and I don't want to be taking care of your smelly feet afterwards because you can't walk." Tsuki replied retying the bundle to her back.

Yoru gave the shoes one final glare before slipping them onto her feet and proceeded to walk out of town.

_**Pause in flashback **_

The whole group fell silent entranced by Yoru's story. Hinote moved to ask a question but was cut short as a blood-chilling scream filled the air. They all knew that it was coming from the temple and that it must belong to Tsuki. Yoru remained still as if remembering another time she'd heard her friend scream like that.

"Is there anything else?" Hiei said making everyone look around in surprise. They had all thought him to be long gone.

"Oh yeah, there's a lot more. I was just remembering all the screaming we did during training. It wasn't anywhere near that bad, but still.

Anyways we walked for three days before entering the castle. We past our entrance exam with no problem, but the training we went through for the next fifty or so years were so intense. But it was worth it because after that…

_**Resume flashback**_

"To Yoru Atsui and Tsuki Newa I hereby give the rank of 1st commanding officer of the Seiryu army and top level assassins." These were the words of the lord Seiryu himself as he presented the girls with the title they had been working for over the past fifty years.

As both Yoru and Tsuki knelt in front of Seiryu accepting their new titles a cheer ran through the crowd of people who the girls had come to call family. They both rose to their feet as lord Seiryu handed them their new, amplified, daggers and again announced their title to the crowd making it official.

"Congratulations girls, you finally did it!" said the girls' friend Gen as they walked down into the crowd below.

"Hey, way to go girls!" Said another friend, Ken, with a loving slap on the back for each of them.

"Nice job Yoru, Tsuki!" yelled Nemori from atop their other friend Kazumi's shoulders.

"Party in Yoru's room tonight!" cried out Sharp another of their demonic friends

And indeed when Yoru and Tsuki entered Yoru's room later that night they were met by the loudest and wildest party Seiryu's castle had ever known. Waves of brain pounding music issued from the numerous instruments that were being played by some of the more talented demons of the castle. Over in one corner they saw Kazumi mixing vase amounts of alcoholic drinks then passing them to Nemori to pour into cups, which seemed to disappear before they hit the table. Up on the ceiling someone had placed and assortment of multi colored crystals with flames burning brightly in their centers sending a mixture of light across the room.

"Hey girls, come dance with us." Yelled Ken and Sharp over the noise

"I think we'll pass." Yoru yelled back

"Why? This party is meant for you two." Sharp said coming closer to the girls

"We're a little over dressed wouldn't you say." Tsuki replied referring to the tunics her and Yoru were still wearing from the ceremony.

"We can change that." Ken said and without another word both boys tore the girls' tunics from them revealing their normal fighting attire. They then persisted to pull the girls into the center of the dance floor.

Yoru couldn't remember a more enjoyable night. They danced and drank well into the night before eventually passing out on her bed.

When she woke the next morning she was surprised to see the room completely clean. It looked as though a party had never happened. Then she noticed Kazumi and Nemori passed out on the couch and floor beside the fireplace. She then noticed Tsuki standing outside, leaning n the balcony railing with a steaming cup f tea in her hands apparently deep in thought. Slowly Yoru crawled from her bed and out onto the cool sun filled balcony.

"Hey, morning party girl." Tsuki said when she noticed Yoru sitting against one of the railings, "How do ya feel?"

"Like shit." Yoru replied holding her head in her hands

Tsuki laughed slightly, "Yeah that tends to happen if you're not used to drinking. Here this stuff helps a lot."

Tsuki passed Yoru a cup of steaming tea that smelt strongly of berries and something else Yoru couldn't really place. She took a sip and instantly felt her headache lessen. They sat in silence for a while until Yoru finally spoke.

"You know a lot has happened to us over the years. Maybe its time for a break."

"Yeah, maybe it is. We could go home for a bit."

"But you know lord Seiryu; he won't let us unless there was something we had to do in that region."

"Well, when I spoke to him last he did mention something about a demon that might be planning a rebellion on the region."

Tsuki glanced down at Yoru and gave her a smile that told her she knew what she was talking about.

Later that day they went to lord Seiryu and accepted the mission that he had mentioned. He handed them a scroll that told them everything they needed to know and as they began to walk out the door he yelled after them, "give your village my regards girls."

It took Yoru and Tsuki three days to hike through the mountains forest that lead to their village. They passed the time by pondering what their families might say. They wondered if they would be proud of them for becoming so strong or if they would disown them entirely.

"I think my mom is going to blow up at me when we see her." Yoru said with a slight twinge.

"Well I know if my parents were still alive they would probably…"

"Hey Su, do you smell that?" Yoru asked sniffing at the air, "It smells like…"

"Fire." Tsuki said passing Yoru a worried and confused look that sent them both hurtling through the last of the woods.

When they reached the end they were met by the sight of their village completely enveloped in flames. People of all ages ran past the girls trying to escape the blaze or find loved ones who had become separated. As a man carrying a child ran past them Yoru reached out to stop him and ask what had happened. But it seemed that just as soon as she had gotten a firm grip on his kimono sleeve his entire arm became separated from his body. The man cried out in pain and fell to the ground. The girls watched in horror as his head slowly began to roll away from the rest of his lifeless form. The child that had been in his arms began to pull its way out, begging the girls for help as it did so. As Yoru rushed to help him a shuriken whizzed past her and imbedded itself in the child's neck killing him. She turned and for an instant saw the dark silhouette of a person on the nearest rooftop. As she stared at the figure she came to realize that it was staring right back at her. That's when the voice spoke to her.

_It's been a long time, Yoru._ It said to her

_Who are you?_

_If you want to find out catch me, if you can._

With that the figure disappeared from the roof. Yoru caught a glimpse of something turning down the street ahead and that was all the incentive she needed to begin the chase. She charged blindly into the fire that was swiping through the village and somehow managed to find the strange figure down one of the ally ways between the buildings. She wasn't sure how long she chased him or how many dead bodies she had passed before her prey finally stopped. He had leaded her to a relatively open area with fire surrounding them in a semicircle. Smoked issued from everywhere burning Yoru's skin and slowly suffocating her. Her opponent seemed completely unfazed.

"Who are you?" Yoru asked again

The person across from her seemed to give a small sigh as if disappointed that she had forgotten something.

"Has it really been that long Yoru? Seems like only yesterday that you tried to kiss me." As the words met Yoru's ears the wind shifted and Okune's face was revealed to her.

Yoru was in shock. She never would have imagined that the one person that she had become close to would do something like this.

"Why Okune? Why burn down the village?" Yoru asked still in a state of shock

Okune simply laughed at the question as if saying that she should have figured it out long ago, "It's simple Yoru. I'm burning down the village because my lord wishes me to. He thinks it's far too dangerous to be left standing."

As Okune said this, his eyes seemed to become wilder as if the flames had released something inside of him, something that wanted blood.

Before Yoru could ask her next question, Okune sent a volley of shuriken stars at her. She avoided them easily enough but wasn't prepared for his next attack, which was several sword slashes to the main veins on her body. Yoru fell to the ground, slowly bleeding to death, with Okune standing above ready to finish her.

"It's a shame really; you were one of the better looking ones I've tricked." Okune said as he raised the sword over his head for the finishing blow.

That was all Yoru could remember of that night for when she awoke she was in a small shack, on a bed of straw covered in bandages. Tsuki sat nearby nursing what appeared to be a severely burned child. There were many others like him lying nearby, all of which came from their village.

"What happened Tsuki?" Yoru asked sitting up.

"Nice to see you're awake." Tsuki replied with a start, "Okune really gave you a beating. I wasn't sure if you were even alive."

"What happened to him and how do you know his name?"

"You talk in your sleep. And as for your other question I threw a flaming shuriken star at him and got him in the face."

Yoru looked around at all the other injured people lying by her. Her ears dropped as she came to realize that it was all her fault. She had been the one to fall for an outsider and tell him all the secrets of the village, and she hadn't been smart enough to figure out his plans sooner. She looked up at Tsuki who looked as if she hadn't slept for days and slowly felt the tears come to her eyes.

"I'm sorry Tsuki. I'm sorry for letting all this happen." She cried as the tears leaked from her eyes.

"It's ok Yoru. You didn't know that he was going to do this. All we can do now is tried to help the few that survived." And with that Tsuki leaned over and wrapped her arms around Yoru, trying to comfort her.

The girls managed to take the survivors to another cat village nearby where the people promised to nurse them back to health and help them adjust to their new lives. Sadly for Yoru, no remains of her home or family were ever found.

They made their way back to Seiryu's castle where news of the fire had already spread. The girls were comforted by their friends, but the scars of their loses never really healed.

_**End of flashback**_

"We remained a part of Seiryu's army and continued to be sent on missions. Eventually we began to heal from the loss. Tsuki fell in love shortly after that but…" Yoru stopped and debated whether or not to tell the others.

"Yeah, go on. Tsuki fell in love and…" Hinote nudged eager to here more about his new friends

Yoru merely shock her head, "I think I'll let her tell you when she's ready."

The group fell silent. Yoru bowed her head and gave a deep, sad sigh as if hoping that she could take back all those memories. She felt a hand touch her shoulder and looked up to see Hiei staring down at her with a hint of concern and pity in his eyes. He knelt down next to her and in barely more then a whisper said, "I know it's hard to lose everything Yoru, but believe me someday it will get better. Until then you have to be strong."

Yoru looked at him in amazement. Was this the same Hiei who had tried to kill her nearly a year ago? Hiei suddenly became stiff again and turned to face the rest of the group who were staring at him.

"Well, what are all of you staring at?" He asked in an angry tone.

"Oh, nothing Hiei absolutely nothing." Yusuke said with a nervous laugh.

There was a small scream from behind Hiei as the door was pushed open and Yoru toppled over backwards onto Botan's feet.

"Sorry Yoru I didn't realize you were sitting there." Botan said with an embarrassed smile.

"It's ok Botan. Is there something you need?" Yoru replied with a sigh as she stared up the ferry girl.

"Just came to tell you that dinner is done if anyone wants some."

"Is it really dinner time already? Wow I didn't even realize the sun was going down." Kuwabara remarked as the group began to file into the house.

As she turned to close the door Yoru felt a small tap on her arm. She looked over her shoulder and saw Yukina standing behind her.

"Oh, hi Yukina, what's up?" Yoru asked trying to act happy.

"I'm sorry Yoru but I over heard your story as I was passing by to fill the bird feeders and, well, I just thought I'd ask if you would like a hug."

Yoru gave Yukina a strange look.

"I only asked because whenever Kazuma feels sad I give him a hug and he always seems to feel better afterwards."

Yoru studied the small ice demon in front of her. She had never notice how strong Yukina really was. She seemed so frail and yet she risked death in the mere hope of finding her long lost brother and never really gave up hope even though it took nearly three years to learn the truth.

Yoru smiled at her before answering, "Thank you Yukina, a hug would do wonders."

They embraced and to Yoru's surprise she really did, strangely, feel somewhat better. When they parted Yoru again thanked Yukina who responded with a smile and said, "If you ever feel sad remember you can always come talk to me. Now we both better get to the table before we miss dinner."

Yoru slid the door completely shut and followed Yukina into the dining hall, all the while thinking, _"Maybe these people aren't so bad."_


End file.
